His grandfather was the Mongol leader Genghis Khan, his mother a Christian princess. Groomed for authority from childhood, Khubilai snatched the position of Great Khan, becoming the overlord of a Mongol federation that stretched from the Balkans to the Korean coastline. His armies conquered the Asian kingdom of Dali and brought down the last defenders of imperial China. Khubilai Khan presided over a glorious Asian renaissance, attracting emissaries from across the continent, and opening his civil service to "men with colored eyes"—administrators from the far west. An expert on Asian history, Jonathan Clements fully depicts the founder of China's Yuan dynasty.